


Into the storm

by Numerion



Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-15
Updated: 2016-08-15
Packaged: 2018-08-08 22:54:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,507
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7776883
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Numerion/pseuds/Numerion





	Into the storm

A storm is coming. People quickly pack off into their tiny burrows. Sand is rising into the air, biting at uncovered skin. A shady figure wanders into the desert. Nobody, but a retreating dog sees him on his suicidal trail.   
They don't know the storm has come for him and so have all the others lately. His cloak billows in the sharp wind. 

A flag emerges from the darkness. It flies up high and falls to the ground, latching onto his feet. He lowers onto his legs and picks it up. It is a black rag in the shape of a flag, except for a dark red spot in the top right corner. On the other side it is written "Follow the eye of the storm". The sentence is written with blood.   
It is an identical map as all the before. He knows it would be. But he also knows the storm wouldn't end until he received the message. This way, it will be over by the morning. His slow steps lead him back to his hut hiding under a bulky tree.

He knows why the messages came for him. He isn't of the Oasis originally. He is a child of the desert. A scavenger. Sand creeper.   
He remembers his past. He still knows of the dreadful life in the caves. They don't let little ones out. He remembers everything. Feeding on bats and roots, sometimes for months while living in a complete darkness only occasionally illuminated by a torch. The days when their days consisted of eating and sleeping. And playing in the darkness. Not exactly warm memories. 

His hut is moved aside of the village. Its pillars at the very edge of solid ground, partly hidden under the tree.   
He pushes the crusty door open. Most of the walls and doors are made from rotten and dried out wood. The rest are stones. It's a wonder it still stands with the strong winds around these parts. The tree is doing most of the work. A tree separated from the rest. A hero for one. Outsider for the others. A tree like no other. But still growing straight up and made of wood. Like all the others.

One room and a kitchen. No bathroom. In an Oasis, nobody truly needs personal bathroom. There is a shared one, using part of the water as a resource. Everybody's gotta abuse that of which they have plentiful. They even let him use it.   
When he is around, they don't seem to mind him. But he can hear their whispers behind his back.   
Rotten tongues spoil the welcoming embrace.   
He got used to it quickly when he came to the Oasis. After all, it was still better than the alternative. On the other hand, it slowly adds up. He knows that one day he will snap and bring the storm.   
As the temperature lowers, his consciousness fades away.

The morning comes late. The storm is still out there. But the sun shines still stronger and the air gets slowly warmer.   
Egyl, the only name he ever got, crawls out of his hut, wearing a cloth to help protect him against sand. Unlike other villagers, children of water they call themselves, sand doesn't hurt him. But he can still feel it brushing against his skin and stinging him in his eyes.   
He wanders away from the village again. His steps disappearing instantly due to the blowing sand.   
A rag. It flies through the sand. It lands at his feet. He doesn't bother lowering for it. He knows precisely what is written on it.   
The wind raises the rag and hits his face. "eye of the storm" is all he can see before he violently jerks it away and throws it back into the winds, not looking at it flying away again. 

Shall he heed the order or shall he weather the storm? He doesn't know. The storm bears no end. Its wind harshly grinding sand against the village's huts and trees. If the storm goes on, it might pose a problem. Sun chasers cannot stop at the oases then, people can't wander off outside and work the few tiny fields, the waters might get buried under sand.   
The storm has to go.

Egyl doesn't know if the storm will disappear if he submits. All he knows is that eventually, the villagers will blame him. Partly even rightfully. Everybody knows that storms follow the sand people's wake. But Egyl doesn't want it that way. He ran away from his kind to escape the curse. Now the curse is chasing him.

His legs start to carry him forward. Away. Soon he finds his way out of the storm. The desert is calm. Look behind tends to disagree. He continues forward through the heat of the day. He still doesn't know where he is going, he only knows that the storm is behind him. That keeps him going forward. He doesn't care that he is hungry or tired, he keeps on walking. Many a step have been taken before he finally falls onto the hot sand. It makes him fill with energy. But he still needs to eat. He also feels dirty. He got used to having two baths a day at the Oasis. Most people did. Living in the desert meant having their skin dry and dirty. Also having their mind numbed by the same visual over and over again. Both their bodies and minds needed a refreshing bath. He definitely could use one right now. But he is of no luck, all around him is sand and nothing but sand. It's a very monotone desert. Suddenly he is very grateful that he can live in the Oasis. The sun is still above ground, but it is getting covered by the moon Ash. Full coverage will happen in two days. Egyl heard that from an old lady few days ago. There is a lot of talk surrounding the moon Ash. Apparently, people are sceptical of it. Egyl never understood why, nothing ever happened during the coverage. Or after it.   
The heat slowly dissipates and Egyl manages to get up on his feet again and crawl forward. Not really fast, but still faster than sitting in the sand. Step after step, dune after dune, the sun finally finishes its journey for the day and falls behind the volcanic range in the far. Ash now rules the sky. Egyl only continues for a while before heat leaves his body and he is forced to stop. Or rather fall asleep mid-walk.

The morning comes late yet again. Egyl wakes up to find a tiny lizard resting atop his chest, gathering energy from the sun. Without thinking, he snaps him and devours him. He always liked eating lizards. Their meat was kind of crispy and felt more living, much better than the meat brought in by the traders. He sat up and looked around. No sign of anybody else. No sign of the storm either. No sign of the way from which he came. Ash is on the opposite side from the sun. The moons were always a good guiding point, even in a wasteland like this. They barely ever moved. Egyl chooses his trail towards it. Somewhere there in the distance, he can see the tips of the volcanic range. He knows there isn't a desert under them and people live there. Some people said it was really dangerous to live there. They said those volcanoes are active. Egyl never learned what that meant. But it was probably something like the storms in the deserts. Nasty and hurts. And so he walks.

On the third day, he begins to feel hunger. A felling he didn't feel for a long time, the oasis always had plenty of food ready. Along with the water, it's what's keeping them alive there. Egyl's mind is spinning in circles. He never should have left. But he doesn't want them suffer from the storm either. And he doesn't want them to blame him for it. His feet are slowly dragging through the sand. The wind has been calm for the whole day, but now it's starting to pick up. His eyes raise from the ground and into the distance. He sees a brown smudge atop the light sand. This sends his heart racing. His pace goes way up. As he is closing closer and closer, the wind is getting stronger, working against him. Sand is flowing around him and wind is slowing him down. His feet start to burrow into the sand, but he keeps on running. He barely notices the storm brewing around him. Finally, his legs let go and he losses sure footing. Wind picks him up and carries him backwards a bit, before he hits the sand again. But he doesn't let go. He slowly gets up, making sure his feet are stable. The brown smudge is closer than it was before, but he still can't see it clearly. He slowly and steadily walks through the storm. His feet buried deep, but his walk stable. The wind reveals a solid rock ahead of him. He manages to get to it and stand atop of it. The wind hits him harder. His stance isn't as stable anymore outside of the sand. He crouches and pushes on. In the Oasis, he sometimes worked outside when the wind was strong. He used to fix stuff around and make sure it won't fly off into the desert. But the winds were never this strong.

He can see the smudge more clearly now. It looks like a wall of a building. Just a wall. There are some rocks behind it, probably thanks to them the wall is still there. He slowly approaches it, the wind still getting stronger. With his eyes nearly closed, he can't see much, but he can make out that part of the wall has crumbled a long time ago. Whatever was here before, it was a long time. This wall survived many a storm, Egyl realises. Carefully, he closes in. The wall is built from sandstone, but towards the bottom of it, there are remains of a thin outer layer, made from the rocks surrounding the wall. Egyl passes by the wall and inspects the other side. The wall and the rocks around form a corner here, covered from the wind. A long time ago, there was a fireplace, Egyl makes out from the burn marks on the ground. Now all that remains is blown in sand. He comes closer and starts digging the sand away from corners. He doesn't want to see any more of it. Near the wall, there is a stone trapdoor set in the floor, which Egyl notices after digging out the sand. There probably used to be a handle from something else, but all that remains is stone. He doesn't feel like opening it today. All he wants is to fall asleep without touching any sand.

Morning doesn't feel like one with the storm raging. Egyl wakes up, slightly covered in sand. He shakes it off before trying to stand up, only to find his legs numb. He slept in a really bad position whole night. Bracing himself on the wall, he watches the stone hatch on the floor. He isn't interested in travelling outside, if the storm rages on. The hatch it is. He crouches down to it to try and lift it, but grabbing it proves to be a problem. Being worked on by sand has made the hatch's sides clean of any irregularities and his fingers just gently caresses them. Instead he tries to push it off to the side. As he uses his weight to try and push it, it starts to give in and slowly slide. It reveals a dark hole beneath. He finally pushes it off enough to fit his fingers under it and without any serious consideration he lifts it up and drops it over to the side. His heart trembles with excitement just before he looks into the tunnel. And that single look stops his excitement. The hole which the hatch covered is nearly full of sand. His hands burrows into it in disbelief. It is the same sand as everywhere around there. He rarely ever expresses himself through noise, but occasionally there comes a time when he just does. And this is one of those times. He roars towards the skies in frustration. He collapses on the floor again. His sight lays on the hatch. The underside, which is now pointing upwards is still painted. It has remained untouched by the desert. He gets quickly back up on his feet and crawls towards the hatch. There is a painting of a man and sand in the air around him. There are also other people and a house, probably representing a village. They seem to be happy. Egyl cannot see any sense to this. He is the bringer of the storm, they can't be happy.   
He sits back down next to the hatch. His eyes watching the storm going, but his mind wandering. The storm is here. It did follow him. It followed him here and now it's reminding him who he is. Maybe it will stay if he goes. 

He springs onto his feet and goes of running, with Ash in his back. He knows what his goal is now. Occasionally, he turns around to look for the storm, but it remains in the same place. It doesn't follow him. he keeps on running. Going back, he keeps up the tempo. He doesn't slow down. Evening stops him in his tracks and he falls down cold.   
Morning sky is clear and crisp. He looks towards Ash, only to see the mountains in the far. No storm in sight. He continues his journey back. By the time sun is in the middle of the sky, he can already see the Oasis in the distance. It shines with activity. Egyl's quick pace has to slow down now. His body is tired, but he has to keep walking. He can finally see the individual trees. Just a few more steps. He can see people around his house. They are holding hammers and shovels. A loud bang goes thorough the desert as a wall of his house falls down. The people cheer. They don't see him. Confused, he falls on his knees and watches his house get destroyed over the next few minutes. He watches as they take apart the materials and carry them away. He watches them celebrate his leaving. He watches as the storm follows him. He stopped. The storm caught him. His tired body lying on the hot sand. He can walk into the Oasis, bring the storm again, show the people he is still alive. He slowly raises back on his feet. His legs start moving and he is dragging himself forward.

His path leads away, toward Ash again. He goes and storm follows. He is bearer of the curse. He will bear the storm alone.


End file.
